WaterNotes

Remember the other day when I waxed philosophic about the chances of late-season turtle nests producing any viable hatchlings? Well, if the nests were laid in Palm Beach County, we could’ve added poaching to the list of potential harms. A man in Juno Beach lifted 120 eggs from a single nest for the purpose of [...]

Few things are as adorable as loggerhead hatchlings.  This little one’s hotfoot-scurry to the sea was captured by Lisa Morse, working in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area (via Marine Photobank). Loggerhead nests abound on the east coast of Florida. During a long beach walk today I was thrilled to count dozens – leading to hundreds [...]

Well my friends it’s May 1st and sea turtle nesting season in Florida has officially begun.  (Yeeeeeeehaw!) I can’t quite get out to the Canaveral National Seashore today to look for fresh nests, but here’s hoping in the next few weeks that we have a successful start to the season. Sea turtle biologists and naturalists [...]

We headed out this morning to a favorite spot of mine on the Banana River branch of the IRL system, Kelly Park on Merritt Island.  Its not a particularly secluded or wild area.  If anything it’s rather highly manicured.  But of all the teaching spots I experienced while conducting field trips this place never failed [...]

The Sea Turtle Preservation Society is an organization from my home county that does a tremendous amount of work – from outreach, to rescues, to stranding response, to beach cleanups – for sea turtles. The outreach and stranding response is especially important in Brevard County, since this area remains such an active hotspot for turtle [...]

One of the truly wonderful things about environmental education in Florida is that it includes a large network of centers, zoos, aquariums, and museums,  with a relatively small community of colleagues. Thanks to organizations like the League of Environmental Educators of Florida and the Florida Marine Science Educators Association I’ve been able to build and [...]

Cold stun sea turtles continue to dominate the conservation news here in Florida. Many zoos, aquariums, and wildlife centers – even Disney’s Animal Kingdom – are assisting with warming up stunned turtles prior to their eventual release.  Many of the smaller centers and nonprofit institutions are keeping up admirably with the enormous demand of their [...]